urn:taro:houpub.00166 Billy Harper Collection MSS.0376 Houston Metropolitan Research Center, Houston Public Library

500 McKinney St. Julia Ideson Building, 2nd Floor Houston, TX, 77002 832-393-1662

This finding aid was produced using the Archivists' Toolkit 2012-10-02T12:08-0500 Finding aid written in English. Descriptive Summary Harper, Billy Billy Harper Collection1943-1989MSS.0376 1.0 Linear feet, One thin document box Materials are in English. Houston Metropolitan Research Center, Houston Public Library Related Archival Materials note

Billy Harper Oral History, HMRC Oral History Collection, August 27, 1989.

MSS 345 Jimmy Ford Collection

MSS 322 Arnett Cobb Collection

MSS 252 Milton Larkin Collection

MSS 403 Illinois Jacquet Collection

MSS 337 Jewel Brown Collection

MSS 442 Herb Brochstein Collection

MSS 349 I.H. Smalley Collection

MSS 390 Campbell Tolbert Collection

MSS 336 Florence "Bu" Pleasant Collection

MSS 397 Art Foxall Collection

MSS 388 Ed Gerlach Collection

Processing Information

Processed by Charles Stephenson and Tammy Jordan. Biographical Note written by Andrew Hempe and Tammy Jordan, 2007.

Acquisition Information

Donated by Billy Harper, August 27, 1989.

Preferred Citation

Billy Harper Collection. MSS 376. Houston Metropolitan Research Center, Houston Public Library.

Use Restrictions

Permission to publish or reproduce materials from the Billy Harper Collection must be obtained from the Houston Metropolitan Research Center or the appropriate copyright holder.

Access Restrictions

None.

Arrangement

The oral history tapes are housed with the Oral History Collection under the numbers OH 464 separate from MSS 376 [the] Billy Harper Collection. Series 1: Oral History Interviews Series 2: Promotional Materials

Scope and Contents

The material in the Billy Harper Collection chronicles Mr. Harper’s musical career from his childhood to 1989. The collection consists of an oral history interview fully transcribed to 32 pages and promotional materials.

Biographical Note

Born in Houston in 1943, Billy Harper grew up in a musical, religious family and played saxophone at school. He began singing at the age of 3, mimicking Ella Fitzgerald. Mr. Harper studied at North Texas State, which was renowned for its music department. There, he frequently practiced 8 hours per day. While in Denton, he collaborated with David "Fathead" Neuman, Dewey Redman, and Julius Hemphill. During graduate school, Mr. Harper left for New York, where he worked with Gil Evans and Art Blakely prior to organizing his own quartet.

Index Terms Blakely, Art Campbell, Carl, 1933-1993 Douglass Elementary School (Houston, Tex.) Evans, Gil, 1912-1988 Harper, Billy Jack Yates High School (Houston, Tex.) Morgan, Lee University of North Texas African American families—Texas America—Civilization—African influences First Ward (Houston, Tex.) Jazz musicians—Texas—Houston Musical meter and rhythm Musicians—New York (State)—New York Saxophonists Spirituality Oral History Interviews 1 1 Personal interview transcript, August 27, 1989 1 2 Personal interview transcript (duplicate), August 27, 1989 Promotional Materials 1 3 Press kit materials for the Billy Harper Quintet